Interim Report – January 2015 #4 (09.01.15)

FRANCEEquine Herpes Virus-4 (EHV-4) Respiratory Disease

On 9th January 2014, Réseau d’Epidémio-Surveillance en Pathologie Equine (RESPE) confirmed a case of EHV-4 respiratory disease in a five year-old French Saddlebred mare on a premises in Hautes-Pyrenees, France. The mare presented with cough, pyrexia, nasal discharge and neurological signs over the preceding three days. There are 20 other horses on the premises but none of these have presented clinical signs of disease to date. The positive diagnosis was made by qPCR on a nasopharyngeal swab by the Frank Duncombe Laboratory, France.

UNITED KINGDOM

Atypical Myopathy (AM)

On 9th January 2015, the University of Liege reported that since the beginning of October 2014 there had been 157 cases of AM in the UK in 2014 reported through their surveillance scheme. Vets and owners are encouraged to keep reporting cases via www.myopathie-atypique.be.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Vesicular Stomatitis (VS)

As of 7th January 2015, the number of VS virus-positive premises in the US currently stands at 434, all involving the New Jersey serotype of the virus. There has been very recent confirmation of the disease on an equine premises in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, the first to be recorded in that state in the course of the current VS event in the US. Totals of virus-positive premises in Colorado (370), Texas (62) and Nebraska have remained unchanged. The number of VS virus-infected equines is 586 and virus-infected bovines is 60. Twelve premises in Colorado and one premises in Arizona remain under quarantine restrictions.

The Animal Health Trust is a veterinary charity, based in Suffolk, which offers clinical referral services and diagnostic testing for horses, dogs and cats in East Anglia, across the UK and internationally. Through its research programmes it develops new diagnostic tests, treatments and vaccines to help thousands of animals.